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Touted as “revolutionary” or “the best thing since sliced bread”, the television industry pushed ahead with HDTV technology. And folks responded with their wallets and pocket books, storming the malls and big box stores to purchase the new technology. What the majority of consumers don’t understand is that, though they have moved beyond analogue technology, the broadcasters haven’t quite brought us the “Full Monty” when it comes to Full HDTV.

In order to understand exactly what is going on, it’s important for the viewer to wrap their brain around a bit of technical knowledge. Maybe a little bit more, perhaps, than the viewer may want to know, but necessary. Nowadays, high definition television displays screen images in three different formats: 720p, 1080i and 1080p. But here’s where the rub begins. 720p and 1080i are commonly referred to as being “HD Ready”.

These technological nomenclatures refer to the amount of pixels that are used to comprise the image a viewer sees horizontally on a screen. The more pixels, the higher the definition of the on-screen image. The letters refer to the sort of scanning the technology affords; “p” stands for “progressive” and “i” stands for “interlaced”. Here’s the difference: Progressive scanning affords each progressive row of pixels being simultaneously thrown onto the screen with each scan, while interlacing throws only every other line at each scan. As a result, interlaced scanning produces more flicker than progressive.

So, image quality is better with 1080 pixels, since it is of higher resolution. Couple that with progressive scanning and it’s easy to see that 1080p technology is the best available. And it is the only technology that earns the title of Full HDTV.

Here’s where the rub takes full form. Nowadays, very few TV broadcasters send out Full HDTV signals. Most of them use “HD-Ready” 720p or 1080i technology. So, Full HDTV sets are not being used to their full potential. Indeed, most broadcasters use only 720p technology. Oh, there are some broadcasters out there using 1080p technology occasionally for special events, as do a handful of internet and cable providers for providing full hd tv online, but they are all few.

Of course, more and more broadcasters will come on line with Full HDTV signals as the technology improves and becomes less expensive. Meanwhile, viewers can experience Full HDTV when they watch BluRay movies or get into some of the latest game consoles. Now you know.